Gilbert ii



(No Model.) I

G. H. WILSON. FORBAND AFT SAIL.

No. 555,631 Patented Mar. 3, 1896.

UNITED STATES GILBERT II. IVILSON,

ATENT OFFICE.

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

FORE-AND-AFT SAIL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,631, dated March 3,1896.

Application filed March 8, 1895.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GILBERT II. WILsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Fore-and-Aft Sails, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to fore-and-att sails, and is designed to improvetheir set and allow the free spill of the wind from the leech or t ifoot) Generally stated the improvement consists in arranging the clothsso that the seams are not all parallel, but occupy an angular relationto each other, some of the cloths between the seams appearing asgores-i. 6., wider at one end than at the other. The leech (or the foot,as the case may be) is formed by the ends of the cloths, and as a resultof the dis position of the cloths some of the ends forming the leech arebias or cut at an angle and others are cut perpendicularly. Where a jibis made in sections, as is common, each section would be constructed inthe manner described, the foot being formed by the ends of the cloths inthe same manner as the leech. In the case of topsails the leech may beformed by the ends of the cloths and the seams run at varying anglestherefrom to the other edges of the sail.

The accompanying drawing is an elevation of a sloop rigged with amainsail, topsail, forestay-sail, and two jibs.

The leech of the mainsail A is formed by the ends of the cloths, some ofwhich are cut perpendicularly to their length and others bias or at anangle to the length. Thus the cloths a toward the bottom of the leechand running to the boom have their ends out perpendicularly, orsubstantially so, in the line of the leech and extend full width to theboom X; but at a higher point on the leech the ends of the cloths a arecut bias, the angle or bias of each cloth running from the topdownwardly, and the ends of the cloths adjacent to the boom are narrowerthan the ends at the leech. In other words, the cloths of this series aare so cut longitudinally as to be narrower at their inner ends, and theseam-lines y converge upon the horizontal line x at the boom, which lineis shorter than the line occupied by the ends of the same cloths at theleech. The number of cloths or strips thus disposed is not essential.The

Serial No. 541,041. (No model.)

next series of cloths a have their bias-cut ends at the leech and runfull width to the forward edge of the sail. Above this series there aregored cloths a and straight cloths 05*, the gored cloths having theirwidest ends at the forward edge of the sail.

The forestay-sail B is constructed in a similar manner of straightcloths b, gored cloths 1), straight cloths b and gored cloths b In likemanner each section 0 C of each jib C is constructed of cloths c c o 0The topsail D is formed of straight cloths cl, gored cloths d runningfrom the leech and gored cloths 61 running in reverse direction. In eachcase shown in the drawing the sail or section of sail is made up ofgored cloths running in one direction, straight cloths, and gored clothsrunning in the opposite direction.

The invention generally stated, irrespective of the specific structureshown and described, consists in having the leech or foot, as the casemay be, partly of bias-cut cloths and partly of perpendicularly-cutcloths and running the cloths diagonally across the sails and goringsome of them to give the leech or foot the required bias and the sailthe required set, so that the leech or foot will lie out relatively flatand easily spill the wind.

Of course the specific arrangement of gored cloths may be varied withoutdeparting from thespirit of my invention.

The disposition of the cloths shown brings the weft or filling of thecanvas in line of the greatest strain and prevents the sail frombellying.

I claim as my invention- 1. A fore-and-aft sail having cloths, some ofwhich are gored in one direction and some in the reverse direction, andin which the leech or the foot is formed by the ends of the cloths, someof which are cut bias and others perpendicularly or straight across.

2. A fore-and-aft sail having the leech or the foot formed by the endsof the cloths, and in which some of the cloths run at different anglesto each other across the sail and others run across the sail with theirseams parallel with each other.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

GILBERT H.

Witnesses:

W. H. GRIFFIN, EDWARD FITZGERALD.

wILsoN.

